Eric Jenks - The Saratogian Sophia Leveroni squats with supervision of personal trainer Steve Hart during an off season training session at Torres XTF Health and Fitness in Ballston Lake.

BALLSTON LAKE >> Guidance counselor by day, personal trainer by night, Steve Hart helps athletes in high schools throughout Saratoga County, including Saratoga Springs, Shenendehowa, Ballston Spa, Galway and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, prepare for the upcoming high school sports seasons.

Hart was an elite wrestler throughout his youth and into his collegiate years before he began as a registered personal trainer in 1992 — though it wasn’t until 2004 when he turned his attention towards personal training.

“Once I stopped coaching wrestling I got into personal training full-time,” said Hart, who was an assistant coach for Shenendehowa’s varsity wrestling team. “Until then I had a couple clients, a couple adults, but then when I stopped coaching this kind of filled that void for me, but also allowed me to be home. As busy as I am, it’s not as time consuming as coaching.”

If Hart’s not at Shenendehowa, where he’s a guidance counselor, or at home spending time with his family, chances are good he’s at Torres XTF Health & Fitness in Ballston Lake training one of the capital district’s rising stars.

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Summer is the busiest part of the year for the Ballston Lake native because it’s the off-season for high school and college athletes. Most days of the week Hart will have a group of athletes come in to train for an hour to an hour and a half at a time.

Not only is it the busiest time of the year for Hart, but it’s also the most important time of the year for athletes.

“The off-season is definitely very important, since I’m a younger guy because I’m only going into my sophomore year,” said Tyler Lisieski, a Ballston Spa native who’s rising sophomore at Albany Academy. “Last year I started with Steve and it was very important because I wouldn’t have played at all if I didn’t, because I wouldn’t have been strong enough. It’s definitely very important if I want to keep up with the older kids.”

For Shen volleyball players Kaitlin DeWolf and Rosalie Pizziketti, working out with coach Hart as part of their off-season training has proven to be very beneficial when it comes time to step on the court.

“Part of our tryouts is conditioning and an athletic training portion,” DeWolf said. “We usually do sprints and strength stuff during our tryouts, so it’s important to prepare for that and it really helps the people who do this excel through tryouts and have the stamina to make it through to the next day because tryouts for us are a week long.”

“For me this helps me prepare mentally,” Pizziketti said. “Steve always motivates me to work harder and do the best that I can do, which I take into tryouts. It’s really helpful when you’re actually playing the game because you can jump higher, you can run faster, you’re just stronger.”

While Hart admits he hasn’t “reinvented the wheel” he uses “common sense” and counteracts one type of lift with another in each training session. One of the benefits to off-season training, is the workouts can help with injury prevention by the time the regular season rolls around.

“If they push, they pull. If they do quads, we do hamstrings. We do core and run too,” Hart said. “With a basic solid foundation, I think it’s definitely injury prevention.”

Hart believes that the work done in the summer can spring board an athlete at the beginning of their sport’s respective season.

“Obviously playing your sport prepares you,” Hart said. “If I’m not out there shooting a ball if I’m a basketball player or if I’m a lineman and I’m not hitting a sled or working on my speed it’s not going to make a difference. So you’re certainly playing your sport, but not overtraining is important. I think (workouts like this) help them too, but I think this helps them more. Strength and conditioning can help them because I think it gives them a confidence that I don’t know anywhere else you can get.”

However, at the end of the day it’s up to the athlete. If athletes like Lisieski, DeWolf, and Pizziketti put in 100 percent effort, then they will start the season a step ahead of everyone else.

“If somebody knows, and if they’re honest with themselves — and I ask them that at the end of the workout — they should be able to look into the mirror and answer the question ‘Did I do what I could do?,’” Hart said. “If they say ‘yes,’ then you know what? They should be prepared. They should feel better. They shouldn’t be the one with their hands on their knees or hanging over a bucket. They should have that little swagger of confidence because they earned it.

“So I think that you can’t replace that. You can’t find that in a bottle. You can’t get that being naturally athletic. I think training in the off-season can give you that edge. That’s what I see and you see it every season.”